The Swan Queen
by Simply Ella
Summary: There are some moments in a person's or country's life that define them. For Queen Swanwhite and Narnia,it was the visit that the White Witch made to Cair Paravel after the death of King Darien the Wise.Originally written for The 2010 Narnia Fic Exchange


Title: The Swan Queen

Author: SunrisesandSunsets (Sunrise345 on Livejournal)

Rating: PG  
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: Set between The Magician's Nephew and the The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe, rated PG for uses of dark magic.

Summary: There are some moments in a person's or country's life that define them. For Queen Swanwhite and Narnia, it was the visit that the White Witch made to Cair Paravel after the death of King Darien the Wise.

This fic was written for The 2010 Narnia Fic Exchange on Live Journal for flirtyfroggy. Thanks to by beta, Metonomia for checking this over.

Once upon a time, when Narnia was still relatively young, there reigned a king named Darien and his wife Rhila. King Darien, who has come to be known as King Darien the Wise in Narnia's history, planned many strategies that won many wars and helped to keep the peace in our great land. Most of the creatures lived together peacefully, although there were still squabbles among the different peoples, Narnia thrived during his reign.

However, nothing can be truly perfect.

King Darien and his wife Queen Rhila were unable to have children. King Darien searched high and low for someone to be his successor. He and Queen Rhila almost gave up hope until one day they were blessed with an heir.

One evening Queen Rhila was sitting in one of the gardens of Cair Paravel sewing alone when she was met by a beautiful Lirin in human form, having shed her swan feathers.

"Greetings, my lady," the woman said and curtseyed the best she could with a babe in her arms.

Queen Rhila looked up from her sewing and rose to greet the young woman.

"Good evening lady Alessia," she said with a smile. "It's so nice to see you again. How are things among the Lirin? I trust all is well?"

"Good evening my queen. It is wonderful to see you as well."

"I see that Aslan has blessed you and your husband with another child."

"Aye, He has, although Rainer and I believe that she was not meant for us." Alessia said, looking down at the baby girl in her arms. She was a beautiful babe with a small amount of light blond hair, and the most beautiful dark black eyes (one of the trademark signs of the Lirin) that Rhila had ever seen.

The Queen Rhila was thoroughly confused by this statement. How could a child that was born into a family not be meant for them? She pondered this for a moment attempting to form an appropriate response. She was shocked even more by Alessia's next words.

"My lady, my husband; Rainer and I have discussed it thoroughly and we believe that it is the Great Lion's will that we leave our youngest child in your care. I know that it sounds strange but Rainer and I are sure that this is the best situation. You and the king are in need of an heir and Rainer and I have been blessed with six other children, it makes sense to let you and the king raise her."

Rhila so was stunned she didn't know how to respond; all of the years that she had spent as a queen of Narnia had not prepared her for this particular situation. Oh but how her heart longed to say "Yes!", she was past her child bearing years and Darien had been unsuccessful in his search for an heir and here was a possible one right in front of her. But her logical side had to come out then and remind her that it was possible that the leaders of the Lirin were trying to gain control of the country by using their child to get inside of Cair Paravel. She also thought about how Darien would react when he found out that she had taken in a child without consulting him. She really did need to speak to him.

"Lady Alessia, I truly do appreciate your offer, I think that it is extremely kind and generous of you but I really do need to speak to my husband before deciding—"

Before she could say anything else, Alessia interrupted her. "Forgive me for interrupting, my queen, but my husband is speaking with the king now. We agreed that it would be best if we spoke to you both separately."

After the four had met together and discussed the matter and the king and queen had thoroughly discussed things, they agreed to raise the child.

King Darien and Queen Rhila wanted to give the child a name that would honour her heritage, so they named her Swanwhite. They raised her as much like a Daughter of Eve as they could but encouraged her to learn about being a Lirin because she was one after all. They did their best to balance between the two. Lord Rainer and Lady Alessia taught Swanwhite how to change her form (which is the most important lesson for a young Lirin to learn, for if they cannot change form then they are stuck as either just a human or just a swan for their entire lives) Her birth parents also taught her the language, history and customs of the Lirin. King Darien, Queen Rhila and the members of the court taught her how to act like Narnian royalty should.

The years passed and the child grew up into a beautiful queen; that is the thing that she is most remembered for. Indeed she was beautiful- she had a graceful, slender figure, hair the colour of honey and dark black eyes that shone as if they had been given a good polish. Her reign was one of one the most interesting in all of Narnia's history.

The events that changed Narnian history forever started not quite one moon after the death of King Darien, while all of Narnia was in mourning of the good king. One thing every military strategist knows is that when a country changes leaders they are especially vulnerable to attack whether it be a full out war or a quiet overthrowing.

According to Narnian tradition it is proper to wait thirty days after the passing of the current monarch before crowning the new one unless there is an emergency. This allows proper grieving time. It was no secret that the king was in poor health. Many kings, queens and nobles from various countries that Narnia had made alliances with came to give their condolences and offer any help that may have been needed. Out of all of the visitors that arrived at the courts of Cair Paravel, there was one queen whom no one had ever met. She introduced herself as Queen Jadis, ruler of Jadis (named in her honour), a small country in the far northern part of the world that had not had many dealings with Narnia before this event. Queen Jadis was said to be extremely beautiful and had a sense of power about her. The power that she held, however, was one that made all the good Narnians shiver. It has been told that she could cause a room to turn cold just by her presence. She could make anyone tell the truth just by looking into their eyes (however the truths that she made them tell were of their darkest secrets and most unwholesome thoughts). Nothing good ever came from looking in her eyes.

After meeting this strange queen, Swanwhite called an emergency meeting with the leaders of all of Narnia's peoples, as was custom when something occurred that would cause harm to Narnia and her people. She did this however, unbeknownst to the queen Jadis. There were Fauns, Centaurs, Lirin, Aneiran (a little known group of Elves that live in the Wood Between the Worlds), Selkies representing the merfolk (for they were the only merpeople who could meet on dry land), Dwarfs, Minotaurs, Dryads, Naiads and other Nature Spirits and all manner of Talking Beasts represented. They all gathered in the grand meeting room in Cair Paravel. Swanwhite sat at the head of the room in the same place that she was so accustomed to seeing her father sit in. She began the meeting and voiced her concerns about the queen Jadis.

"My lady," Said Grayden, a wise old badger who was well known for his knowledge of history and foreign affairs, "I speak not only for myself but for all of the badgers when I say that we cannot trust this queen from afar, she has never made any effort to contact us in the past and now she shows up offering trade and wanting an alliance. It simply is not done like this usually."

"Aye," said Rydon the centaur, Swanwhite's teacher and most trusted advisor. "This new queen seems to be trying to take advantage of the grief that our country is experiencing, and your grief as well my lady." He said, understanding the pain she was going through.

"Your majesty, most of us dwarves disagree." Milibrick the head of the dwarves spoke up, standing so that all could see him clearly. "This Queen Jadis is offering valuable metals from her country, she has a better alliance with Calormen than we do and that would strengthen our alliance with them and she offered us a long treaty of peace. Turtles and Teacups! You'd be a fool to turn all that down!" He said the last with a huff and plopped back down into his seat.

Swanwhite took a deep breath and was about to reply when several other representatives decided to voice their thoughts. The council was quickly divided; several thought that the queen Jadis was not a threat; one leader even went as far as to suggest that the two countries merge. That suggestion appalled Swanwhite and the others who were wary of the foreign queen. Before things could get completely out of hand, Swanwhite adjourned the meeting.

After having to entertain the queen Jadis again, Swanwhite was sure that she could not trust the woman after she hinted that if the countries became allies and ever became a combined nation, Aslan would not be on their flag, or even spoken of for that matter. This deeply troubled the soon to be queen for Aslan is the creator of Narnia and without Him none of us would even exist.

When Swanwhite retired to her chambers for the evening, she decided to take a flight. Almost reverently, she took her plumage from the chest that she kept hidden under the floor beneath her bed. It is very important that a Lirin keep their feathers hidden, because whoever has possession of a Lirin's feathers has control of them. She opened the window and changed out of her gown and donned her plumage, carefully making sure that her feathers were in their proper places. She needed to clear her head and flying was the best way for her to do it. She jumped out of the window and spread her wings, enjoying the rush of the air around her. She flew around till her wings grew weary and she needed to rest. Swanwhite landed at a clearing by a stream not too far from Cair Paravel. She found a safe place to sit and rested for a while.

Swanwhite awoke a few hours later; to find the most beautiful deer that she had ever seen standing in front of her. He had a snow white coat and magnificent antlers that intertwined. A blue silk dress was draped across them. He stood right in front of her and leaned his head down. "My lady," he said in a deep, comforting voice. "Aslan has sent me to speak with you. I wish to do so in your human form, if you do not mind."

"It would be a pleasure, Sir Stag." She answered; he then lowered the dress so that it covered her completely and turned around to allow her to change. All of her life, Swanwhite had heard tales of the White Stag, the tales that currently filled her mind frightened her some. She had heard that he often came to visit someone when they were about to leave their world. She also wondered why the Great Lion had not spoken to her Himself.

"What is it you would wish to speak to me about?" She asked once she was dressed. She held her feathers protectively close to her chest.

He turned back around to face her. "My lady, I understand that the Queen of Jadis's visit has you troubled. It is not without good reason."

Swanwhite searched the Stag's eyes, attempting to read his expression "What do you know of her?"

"This is not her first visit to Narnia. She was here at its creation."

Swanwhite furrowed her eyebrows. "How can that be? She would have been long dead if that were the case."

"She is immortal. She has eaten of the Fruit of Everlasting Life."

"She's the one from the stories! The one that wanted to rule Narnia instead of King Frank! " Swanwhite said, outraged as the realisation of who the foreign queen truly was hit her.

The stag nodded his head, "You are right. I have heard from reliable sources that she wishes not to form an alliance with Narnia and expand our borders but to put an end to our freedom. There is an old prophecy," he continued, "about a time when evil will preside over Narnia for one hundred years."

"You think that Jadis is the evil that will rule Narnia."

"Yes. Queen Swanwhite, you are a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. Do you understand what that means?

Swanwhite shook her head, not correcting him when he called her a queen, for she understood that Aslan had spoken to the Stag of things that had not yet passed. "I do not fully understand."

He continued. "Every seventh son or daughter of a seventh son or daughter is blessed by The Emperor- Beyond-the- Sea because seven is a sacred number."

Swanwhite understood that much, however she couldn't understand how that affected her or even why the White Stag brought the subject up. She let out a deep sigh. She wanted to interject and ask him how her being a seventh daughter and some ancient prophecy could help with the current situation, but thought better than to question a messenger of Aslan.

"The second part of the prophecy states that choices that a seventh child makes could strengthen Narnia or bring its downfall."

This revelation surprised Swanwhite, she had never heard of this prophecy before. "You believe that I am this seventh child that will be responsible for Narnia's well being?"

"Yes." He said the word with such certainty; Swanwhite couldn't help but think that he actually believed what he said. "My queen, I understand that this is quite a lot for you to process."

Swanwhite was quiet for a while and avoided eye contact with the Stag; nothing made sense to her anymore. She had lost her adoptive mother not quite a year earlier and before she felt as if she had enough time to grieve, her adoptive father passed away. This had affected her greatly, she felt lost without them. Although for most of her formative years she had dreaded being tossed back and forth between Cair Paravel and her birth parents' home (and sometimes resented all of her parents because of this), not understanding that it was best for her to learn everything she could about her ancestry (though now she was slowly beginning to understand the reason why they did so but she hated the fact that they had kept a prophecy supposedly about her a secret). All in all, though, she really did love them.

"I must go my lady." He said, bringing Swanwhite back into reality. "Do not fret too much about what I told you. Trust Aslan and you will make the right decision." And with that he left. Swanwhite watched as his form became smaller and smaller until he disappeared into the night, and then, realising that it was far too late for her to be out alone, changed back into a swan and flew back to Cair Paravel.

The next morning, the council met again. However, prior to this meeting more Narnians had fallen under Jadis's spell. Sir Rydon and Tarn (an Aneiran who was a close friend and advisor to Swanwhite) had witnessed Jadis speaking some sort of spell and sprinkling some type of unknown liquid around the grounds of Cair Paravel while Swanwhite was out the night before, and after that most of the Narnians changed dramatically.

After the meeting, Sir Rydon pulled Swanwhite aside in order to speak with her privately. "My lady, it is best if you are crowned as soon as possible." Swanwhite agreed that that was a smart decision and silently hoped that it was the right one, the White Stag's words from the night before still echoed through her mind.

That evening Swanwhite was crowned, and her coronation was one of the more unusual in Narnia's history. As was custom, all of Narnia was invited to Cair Paravel for the ceremony, however very few Narnians attended. Whether it was because of the quick notice or because the Narnians disagreed with her being crowned so soon after the king's death is debatable although both may have been a factor.

After the coronation, the Narnians who had not fallen under the Witch's spell hoped that the Witch would leave after seeing that Narnia had a rightful queen.

Jadis was present for the ceremony and spoke with Swanwhite privately afterwards, wishing her well though it was very evident by her tone of voice and her body language that the Witch did not wish any good thing for her. They spoke for a few moments (which felt like hours to Swanwhite, for every time she was around the Witch she feared her more) before the conversation turned even more uncomfortable.

"I hear that you are Lirin. Is that true, Queen Swanwhite?" The Witch's icy eyes bore into Swanwhite and for a moment she felt as if she were watching herself have a conversation with the Witch instead of being in control of her own body.

"Aye." She answered. "I am."

The Witch smirked, "I have never seen a Lirin change forms before, there are not any that live in my country." She paused for a moment. "Would you mind too terribly if I watched you change? I find the idea rather fascinating. It would be an honour to watch."

Swanwhite's mind was screaming for her to say 'No!' what the Witch was asking her to do was unthinkable. No respectable person would ask such a thing of any form shifter. It's about the equivalent of asking to ride a centaur or a talking horse. It simply isn't done.

The longer Swanwhite stood there alone with the Witch, the more she lost control of herself and she was unable to give the answer she so desperately wanted to.

"I wouldn't mind at all, your majesty. I agree with you, it is a fascinating process. Follow me and I will show you."

Swanwhite led the Witch to her chambers. The Witch smiled evilly to herself, glad that her magic was working so well on the young queen. When they reached her chambers Swanwhite went straight to her bed, crawled underneath it, lifted the fake floor and took out the small chest that contained her plumage.

The Witch, quite pleased with herself, asked. "Is that your other skin?"

Swanwhite nodded, still in a trance. "Yes." She looked toward the Witch, her eyes were clouded over and she had a blank expression on her face. "I will demonstrate for you."

"Oh, may I hold it? I am interested to see how it feels!" The Witch exclaimed, as if she were genuinely interested in the plumage instead of just wanting to use it to carry out her evil plan.

Swanwhite handed it to her, by this time she had lost total control.

The Witch snatched the feathers greedily from Swanwhite. "Tell me you wish for me to take your place as Narnia's rightful queen!"

"I wish for you to take my place as Narnia's rightful queen." Swanwhite repeated.

The Witch smiled a cold, evil smile. "You will write a letter telling all of the Narnians that you cannot fulfill your duties as queen and that you hand all of your rights over to me."

"As you wish, your majesty," with that, Swanwhite did as she was told.

Once the Witch had the letter in her possession, she had no more use for the young queen. "You enjoy being a swan don't you, much more than you enjoy being a human?"

"Yes."

The Witch took a small bag out of her dress pocket containing some type of ground up leaves. She blew them some onto Swanwhite and circled around her chanting an incantation. After she had finished, Swanwhite fell to the ground and as she was falling she changed into a swan. But this time when she changed into swan, it was permanent.

"There," Jadis said, standing back to admire her handiwork. "You will remain a dumb swan, never to speak a word or walk on human legs again as long as I remain queen of this land."

Jadis managed to convince the Narnians that Swanwhite, overwhelmed by the thought of being queen had jumped from one of the tallest towers in Cair Paravel into the sea and ended her life. Jadis, who came to be known as "The White Witch" after the Narnians figured out who she really was, ruled over Narnia for one hundred years. She turned everyone who was against her to stone and she changed the weather so that it was always winter –and not mild winters, but cold, dreary winters that caused many of the humans to die or move to Archenland or another country that had proper seasons. Life was beyond miserable for the Narnians while she reigned.

However, the story does not end there. The Narnians cried out to Aslan and he heard their cries. He sent four children from a foreign world to restore Narnia back to her former glory. They along with the good Narnians fought against the White Witch in what is known as the First Battle of Beruna. They defeated the Witch and exiled her from Narnia for good. Narnia prospered during their reign and they began the Golden Age.

Now, I suppose you are wondering about what happened to Queen Swanwhite? After the Witch was defeated Aslan restored everyone that the queen transformed back into their former selves. Swanwhite became a Lirin once again; she became an advisor to the four kings and queens and succeeded them. She had a long and successful reign and is known as one of the best queens of Narnia's history. She fearlessly led Narnia into battle and protected her as if it were second nature; the people respected her judgment greatly. Narnia's Golden Age continued under her reign.

**Author's note:**

Seventh daughters (or sons) of seventh daughters/sons are said to be healers and have second sight and that good and evil will fight for their souls.

Lirin- a group of swans that change into humans when they take off their plumage named after the Irish myth "The Children of Lir", inspired by the Norse myth of the Valkyries.


End file.
